Category: Reviews (Page 116 of 206)

DUBSTAR You Were Never In Love

28 June 2018 /


It was 2000 when the last DUBSTAR album ‘Make It Better’ was released, but the trio of Sarah Blackwood, Chris Wilkie and Steve Hillier imploded after a career which saw them score several hits in ‘Not So Manic Now’, ‘Stars’, ‘Anywhere’ and ‘No More Talk’.

Blackwood reappeared in 2003 as the lead singer of CLIENT, the female duo who found cult success in Germany with their feisty brand of electronic pop.

In 2010, DUBSTAR reformed and issued a cover of ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star’ for a charity compilation in aid of Amnesty International.

Then there was a 2013 comeback concert at The Lexington in London. But things went quiet on the DUBSTAR front, although Blackwood maintained a recorded presence, contributing her voice to songs by FOTONOVELA, KOISHII & HUSH, RADIO WOLF and VILE ELECTRODES, while also DJ-ing at TEC003.

Coming out of nowhere on 1st June 2018, DUBSTAR reappeared as a duo with a brand new tune ‘Waltz No9’ hitting digital platforms. Before anyone even had time to breathe or notice the departure of Steve Hillier, a second song ‘You Were Never in Love’ was unleashed to the public.

‘You Were Never In Love’ also forms the starry-eyed basis of the first new DUBSTAR video since ‘The Self Same Thing’ and sees Sarah Blackwood looking rather radiant. A gorgeous slice of enticing dream pop that maintains the aura of classic DUBSTAR thanks to a wonderfully forlorn vocal presence, it comes from their brand new album ‘One’.

Produced by Youth and with Chris Wilkie now taking keyboard duties as well as contributing guitar and songs, titles like ‘Please Stop Leaving Me Alone’ and ‘Why Don’t You Kiss Me?’ indicate that the bittersweet bedsit dramas that made DUBSTAR so appealing are still very much present and correct on ‘One’.

Having sat on the bridge between Britpop and Synth Britannia in their heyday, ‘One’ looks likely to be a worthy addition to a tradition which began with ‘Disgraceful’ and continued with ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Make It Better’.

‘You Were Never in Love’ is from the new DUBSTAR album ‘One’ which is released on 28th September 2018 via Northern Writes, pre-order the CD, vinyl LP or cassette direct from https://dubstar.tmstor.es

http://dubstarofficial.co/

http://www.facebook.com/dubstaruk/

https://twitter.com/dubstarUK

Text by Chi Ming Lai
28th June 2018

PAGE Start EP

27 June 2018 /


The Count and Countess of Swedish electronic pop are back-back-BACK!

Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko initially came together in PAGE as far back as 1980, releasing their first single ‘Dansande Man’ in 1983. Since then, the pair have parted and reunited on a number of occasions although both continued to make sine waves at home and internationally.

Bengtsson had his ongoing solo mission SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN but found fame with S.P.O.C.K while Schiptjenko joined Alexander Bard from ARMY OF LOVERS in VACUUM and then BWO. More recently as PAGE, the pair released an enjoyable trilogy of albums ‘Nu’, ‘Hemma’ and ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’ which have affirmed their position as one of Sweden’s leading electronic pop pioneers.

Their latest EP ‘Start’ comprises of three new songs plus a remix by Norwegian EBM trailblazers APOPTYGMA BERZERK. Having already covered Gary Numan’s ‘Tracks’ in Swedish as ‘Spår’ and paid an initial Numanoid tribute on ‘Utanför’ for ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’, PAGE have gone the full hog with the ultimate homage to the imperial years of the man born Gary Anthony James Webb.

The appropriately named ‘Start’ remembers a time before ‘Dance’ ever happened with buzzing Minimoog basslines and swirling Polymoog strings coming over like a mash-up of ‘Tracks’ and ‘Metal’. Yes, there are machine music overtures but there is melody too, a skilful trait often forgotten with vintage Numan.

Photo by Simon Helm

‘Stör Ej’ goes a step further and as well as borrowing from ‘This Wreckage’, it actually samples the Compurhythm pattern from ‘Love Needs No Disguise’ halfway through. But despite the familiar aesthetics, this is a song that stands up on its own with a fabulous retro-futuristic tone.

Best of all though is ‘Nere För Räkning’, an urgent slice of pulsing synthrock with a piercing vibratoed lead line akin to the keyboard acrobatics of Billy Currie from ULTRAVOX who was part of the Numan band for the UK leg of ‘The Touring Principle’.

Assisted by Per Aksel Lundgreen, Stephan Groth of APOPTYGMA BERZERK provides a redux of ‘Krasch’ from ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’. Now while the union with PAGE may seem unlikely, APop’s most recent long player ‘Exit Popularity Contest’ was a wonderful instrumental retreat into the territory of Jean-Michel Jarre and NEU! It showed that Groth had as much of a sweet ear for electronic melody as PAGE, even if it was usually hidden by noise and aggression. With an Italo-derived octave shift bassline replacing the more rigid structure of the album version, APOPTYGMA BERZERK’s rework greatly improves on the original.

Yes, this EP does party like it’s 1979, but that familiarity helps it to possibly be one of PAGE’s most immediate and accessible bodies of work in their long career. If you have never checked out the work of Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko before, then this release is no better way to start…

‘Start’ is released by Energy Rekords as a limited edition CD, available direct from https://hotstuff.se/cdm-page-start-ep-digipack-limited-edition-300-copies/68573

https://www.facebook.com/PageElektroniskPop

https://www.instagram.com/page_svensk_pop/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
27th June 2018

FAKE TEAK Bears Always Party The Exact Right Amount

25 June 2018 /

When Andy Pandy and Teddy were “waving goodbye” at the end of each episode, what was actually going on once the box was shut? Was it really “time to go home” or were the pair partying the night away?

London-based combo FAKE TEAK with their brilliant new video ‘Bears Always Party The Right Amount’ show that like girls, bears just wanna have fun. Cleverly filmed around the city and on the London Underground with seemingly no strings attached, Bear joins his pals Monkey, Giraffe, Dolphin and FAKE TEAK themselves for a night of disco revelry.

Self-directed by the band themselves, their puppetry skills have certainly not been in vain and the end result is one of the best independent low-budget music videos to have been made in recent years.

Giving away some of their trade secrets, singer and instrumentalist Andrew Wyld recalled: “We used broom handles with fishing line on them—since the breaking strain on fishing line is quite high, it was enough for the weight of the stuffed animals, but it’s also very fine and mostly doesn’t show! For close up work, we also used coathanger wire, which we slid inside the stuffed animals’ arms, for example, as in the scene where they share a drink…guitarist Alastair Nicholls came up with the concept for the video, I storyboarded it and then between us we figured out the shooting script and how we were going to move the stuffed animals”

It’s proof that once a band puts their mind towards some inventive visual representation to accompany their music, anything is possible. The song itself is an appealing quirky mix of LCD SOUNDSYSTEM and TALKING HEADS, driven by synth-derived organ sounds and a groovy rhythmic backbone from Andrea Adriano.

The second single from FAKE TEAK’s upcoming debut album, the band’s ARP Odyssey Goddess Joanna Wyld said: “’Bears Always Party The Exact Right Amount’ is about everyone being welcome to be exactly who they are and to party exactly how they want. It’s about seizing the day and not caring how you look or whether you made a mistake. However much you want to dance: that’s the right amount. However we just played it: that was the right way”

Just a quick note that the Bear was not hurt during filming and even if he was, IT’S A PUPPET! 😉

‘Bears Always Party The Exact Right Amount’ will be available as a download single from the usual digital platforms

FAKE TEAK launch the single with a gig at The Finsbury, 336 Green Lanes, Harringay, London N4 1BY on Friday 29th June 2018 – nearest tube is Manor House on the Piccadilly Line

https://www.facebook.com/faketeak/

https://twitter.com/faketeak

https://www.instagram.com/faketeak/

https://soundcloud.com/faketeak

Text by Chi Ming Lai
25th June 2018

BLACK NAIL CABARET Bête Noire

22 June 2018 /

Ok, so BLACK NAIL CABARET have never sat on the brighter side of synthpop.

Not devoid of melody however, their monochromatic approach to electronica revels in minimalistic use of gizmos, positioning the one-time London domiciled Hungarians somewhere in the shadowed corners of the synth bubble.

Emese Illes-Arvai who partnered with Sophie Tarr in 2008, debuted with a surprising version of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, giving it the darker, edgier spin. Two and a half albums later (each gathering the pair wider and wider audiences), Tarr left, enabling Illes-Arvai to partner with her husband to drag ‘Dichromat’ over the finish line.

With BLACK NAIL CABARET continuing on and now fully established into the scene, they release a three song EP ‘Bête Noire’, this time going for the throat.

The title song, accompanied by the very poignant video directed and storyboarded by Emese hersele, is described as “a distorded mirror, where people are rising against a faceless dictator, to no avail” has been inspired by the current political situation in Hungary.

The flick sees Emese and her black clad followers, joined by a disgruntled factory worker in order to break the establishment. The heavy vibrating synth rises to parallel stomping EBM, with its gyrating qualities, leading to the punch line “I think I wanna kill you, but I believe in peace, bitch!”

The duo go for socialist connotations both in the video and the song’s lyrics (“If I march against you, I think I’ll have an army”), entering the dictator’s chambers, which strongly resemble the style of any communist headquarters, trying to look for something to provide a sign. Instead, they seem to fail…

The evident calm comes with ‘Lorraine’. We’ve had ‘Veronica’ and now ‘Lorraine’, the one who’s “always been so kind to my heart”, and now is experiencing her own tragedy over a melodic beat with gritty synth elements, which turn out to be not so calming after all. The production is concluded with the instrumental ‘Eleven’ which beautifully sums up the three piece outing with delicate dose of intricate sounds, gently piercing he surface with unearthly aspects and unusual sci-fi ingredients.

BLACK NAIL CABARET are surely on the roll with the new release, which heavily pierces through the sea of calmness with the punchy ‘Bête Noire’ and dwindles down through ‘Lorraine’ to the delicate blanket of ‘Eleven’.

Now, for the new album please…

‘Bête Noire’ is available as a download bundle from https://blacknailcabaret.bandcamp.com/album/b-te-noire

http://www.blacknailcabaret.com

https://www.facebook.com/bncband/

https://twitter.com/Black_Nails

https://www.instagram.com/bncband/

Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
22nd June 2018

ARP Zebra

21 June 2018 /


ARP is back with a new eleven track instrumental album entitled ‘Zebra’.

The moniker of New York based multi-instrumentalist Alexis Georgopoulos, things have been quiet for ARP over the last couple of years, although there was a collaborative album with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma under his own name. ‘The Soft Wave’ in 2010 proved to be ARP’s breakthrough release and featured the wonderful kosmische melodies of ‘High Life’, the  beauty of ‘Summer Girl’ and the progressive clustered sonics of album opener ‘Pastoral Symphony_ I. Dominoes II. Infinity Room’.

2013’s ‘More’ ventured into primarily song based territory and Georgopoulos’ own Eno-esque green world with ‘Judy Nylon’ coming over as the ultimate homage to the art rock of ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’. The cassette album ‘Inversions’ from 2016 explored ambient via Moog and violin, as well as arpeggio driven rhythmic trance.

Never one to sit still and keen not to brand himself with any particular style, Georgopoulos continues his aural exploration and like the zebra itself, his latest work sees him revelling in contrast and duality, using a wider spectrum of musical colours than previously.

With the minimalistic air of Terry Riley and Steve Reich, the gorgeous ‘Halflight Visions’, held together by a marimba arpeggio and some tinkling Fener Rhodes, sets the scene for ‘Zebra’.

Meanwhile the African flavoured ‘Nzuku’ continues use of the marimba derived backbone with a live percussive swing, guitars and an assortment of buzzy synths for a jam of extended cosmic jazz. Using tribal drum mantras, ‘Flourescences’ and ‘Folding Water’ both continue on the theme.

The combination of sweeping synths and marimbas gives ‘Parallelism’ a distinctly spacey vibe while the two minute long ‘Ozu’ adds flutes and string bass to the soundtrack. At nearly nine minutes, the piano laden ‘Reading A Wave’ ventures into avant jazz and perhaps overindulges.

Utilising the Fourth World tremors of Jon Hassell and Brian Eno, ‘Fiji’ combines a variety of textures including snatches of double bass, shimmering string machine and bleepy electronics for a pleasingly hypnotic ride to the terminus.

Eclectic to say the least but less instantly engaging and melodic than ‘The Soft Wave’, ‘Zebra’ sees Georgopoulos continue his path towards jazzier territory.

Those who preferred the pan-European overtures of ‘The Soft Wave’ might be disappointed, but those in for the long haul on the ARP journey will appreciate the ambition, the musicianship and the masterful quality of its production.

‘Zebra’ is released by Mexican Summer on 22nd June 2018 in double vinyl LP, CD + digital formats

http://www.studioalexisgeorgopoulos.com

https://www.facebook.com/arpsoundss/

https://twitter.com/arpsounds

http://www.mexicansummer.com/artist/arp/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Shawn Brackbill
21st June 2018

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